Any recommendations on French Mouvedres?

Had an interesting Bandol last Friday, and I want to expand my horizons related to the Mouvedre grape. Any recommended producers-primarily French?

The 2 most famous (and expensive) Bandols are probably Tempier and Ott (I much prefer former).
Others that are pretty good and fairly available in US might include Pradeaux, Ch. Ste Anne, Pibarnon, and Bastide Blanche.
I don't know any all-Mourvedre Rhones, but Beaucastel tends to have more Mouvedre than most.
Hopefully someone else can give better advice.

Just to be helpful, as I once did websearches on this grape and remember being frustrated with the results until I realized that it is spelled mourvedre (or mourvèdre) . . . my results were pretty sparse until I dawned on that realization.

And, of course, I can be of no assistance with your actual question!

The 2 most famous (and expensive) Bandols are probably Tempier and Ott (I much prefer former).
Others that are pretty good and fairly available in US might include Pradeaux, Ch. Ste Anne, Pibarnon, and Bastide Blanche.
I don't know any all-Mouvedre Rhones, but Beaucastel tends to have more Mouvedre than most.
Hopefully someone else can give better advice.

To Dale's list of Bandols, I'll add Dom. Tour du Bon and Terrebrune, both Kermit Lynch imports. I can't think of any all-Mourvedre cuvées from the Rhone, but Ch. La Roque in the Languedoc makes a lovely all-Mourvedre wine, which (again) is a Kermit Lynch import.

Mark Lipton

Domaine de l'Oratoire Saint-Martin's Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne cuvée Haut Coustias contains 60% Mourvèdre and very good it is, too. I did a note on the 1998 and tony Fletcher on the 2000.

I will do a search tomorrow to see what other Mouvèdre dominated wines I can find outside Bandol.

Rabasse-Charvin makes a couple of very interesting versions, including what they claim was a mistake that turned into an intriguing dessert wine.

Domaine St. Anne, in St. Gervais, in the Gard has a cuvee named for St. Gervais, that is usually more than half Mourvedre, and it shows the prettiest side of Mourvedre of nearly any wine I've ever had. There are occasionally bottlings from Yecla and Jumilla, in Southern Spain, that are quite lovely.

Thanks, all. That's quite a list! I actually saw the single vineyard cuvees of Tempiere at a wine shop on Portrero Hill.

I've had a good Spanish version, which I posted on, last month at Back Room Wines.

Broadening the search a bit, any opinions on Core wines or the Bonny Doon bottling?

Tablas Creek (at least partially French owned) does a nice job with its Panoplie (69% Mourvedre in '03 and '04, I haven't taken delivery on the '05 yet).

Domaine Forca-Real, Roussillon.
Dom Bunan, Bandol.
Mas Champart, Languedoc.
La Bastide Blanche, Bandol.
Ch La Roque, Pic St Loup.
Cd de Pibarnon.

Getting to quite a list eh!!

Adding to the list,
Domaine du Mas Blanc from Collioure has a cuvee that is mostly Mourvedre called Clos du Moulin that can be great in some years and ages very well.

Doing a search I came across this post in French on wines with high Mourvèdre (M) content - http://gastronomique.canalblog.com/arch ... 41908.html . I think that the estate and cuvée names are self-explanatory but, if you need something translated here, please let me know.

I also unearthed the following with high M content during an unscientific scan of a reference book-

Mas Baux (Roussillon) Soleil Rouge 47% M, 43% Syrah (S), 10% Grenache (G)
Domaine de l'Aupilhac (Coteaux du Languedoc Montpeyroux) La Borda 40% M, 40% S, 10% G, 10% Cinsault (Ci) (and two others w 30% M); an excellent estate.
Domaine Alain Chabanon (Montpeyroux) Rosé Trémier 60% M, 40% G
Domaine Les Mille Vignes (Fitou) - estate planted with 47% M, 32% G, 19% Carignan (C)
Domaine Saint-André de Figuière (Provence) Rosé Vieilles Vignes (VV) 50% M, 25% G, 25% (Ci), VV red 60% M, 40% G; this is my house rosé and is rather more structured and serious than most.

Warning: the Negly Ancely mentioned in the link is a "garage" wine costing € 53 ex cellar.

While it is not French, I can't help mentioning Bonny Doon's "Old Telegram", of which I have tasted some vintages. The last one was 2004 which I liked a lot - not as excessively fruity as some of Randall's wines can be, and 100% Mourvèdre, AFAIK. It offers an interesting comparison, anyhow.
Cheers, Anders

Tim writes....Warning: the Negly Ancely mentioned in the link is a "garage" wine costing € 53 ex cellar.

Lucky you for having red wines from Negly available, Tim. As stated before, all I can find here is one of the whites!
That is a nice little list you have put together. I think we should think of suggesting Mourvedre/blends thereof next winter for a Wine Focus.

While it is not French, I can't help mentioning Bonny Doon's "Old Telegram", of which I have tasted some vintages. The last one was 2004 which I liked a lot - not as excessively fruity as some of Randall's wines can be, and 100% Mourvèdre, AFAIK. It offers an interesting comparison, anyhow.
Cheers, Anders

Thanks, Anders. The local "better" supermarket in town (I love Nugget Market) carries a bottle of this.

Thanks, Anders. The local "better" supermarket in town (I love Nugget Market) carries a bottle of this.

Nice, Brian. Do let us know what you thought of it, once you have opened it. /A